A simple song, a Christmas miracle, a chance for peace

Silent Night is my favorite Christmas carol, not just because it’s a beautiful song that has delighted us for 200 years. I love it because of the two guys who wrote it and the astonishing impact it has had globally.

I recorded this song a long time ago as part of a Christmas album Night Before Christmas and just last year created a lyric video to it. By the way, my wife Deb inspired me to record this album and it’s still one of the favorite things I’ve done musically.

Silent Night was written by Franz Gruber and Joseph Mohr in Oberndorf, a small village in Austria. The story goes that the church organ was broken and Franz and Joseph wanted to come up with something for their church gathering. A simple and heart warming song that can be performed with a guitar. Originally titled Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht was first performed in 1818. For years Mohr’s authorship of the melody was forgotten and attributed to Haydn, Mozart or Beethoven (not bad, I say). A manuscript was recovered in 1995 which finally established the true author of the music.

Christmas is so familiar that it can easily become mundane, when it does we miss a opportunity for profound joy. The inexpressible beauty and mystery of God making his home among us, loving us and teaching us how to live and love. Silent Night awakens the Christmas miracle in us, and if it we let it, moves us for Christmas miracle actions.

Silent Night was one of the carols sang by opposing sides during the Christmas truce in 1914, a spontaneous sometimes against orders truce between troops where they exchanged gifts, carols, laughs, and even a soccer game.

Will join me in a prayer that Christmas inspires men and women in the freezing trenches of Eastern Ukraine to pause and celebrate their shared humanity and the birth of Christ who taught and lived a countercultural, enemy-loving life.

Thank you for reading, commenting and sharing on Headspace newsletter, Youtube channel and Facebook page. I’ll will return with new posts in the New Year.

Now, take a moment and watch this lyric video of Silent Night and may you and your loved ones enjoy a very merry Christmas.